Friday, September 17, 2010

Rice is now prominently on the agenda of many countries and they are serious about domestic production, explains AfricaRice economist, Dr. Ibrahima Bamba.

In the old days of structural adjustment, policy makers were led to believe that the market would take care of seed, fertilizer and everything else. But laissez faire failed Africa. While Asian governments worked to guarantee local production, Africa tried to rely on the global market, and began to import more and more to feed the cities. The reliance of imports exacerbated Africa’s exposure to international market shocks. It is not surprising that most of the recent food riots were in Africa.

Before the crisis, global demand for rice was growing faster than world production. Global rice stocks were low, down to about two to three months of world consumption. AfricaRice noticed that rice prices had been increasing for some time, and warned the member states of the crisis before it happened, speaking directly to the decision makers at meetings such as the Council of Ministers. In 2007 the Director General Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck started touring the countries, saying there might be an imminent crisis in rice and urging decision-makers to invest in farming. The governments appreciated the advance warning. Yet they only made major investments in rice after the 2008 crisis.

The case for investing in domestic agriculture remains strong, as accumulated evidence shows that local rice is competitive. Now more countries are trying to be self-sufficient to avoid being hurt again by another rice crisis.

Policy communication. AfricaRice communicates the results of research for policy makers through several channels including the Council of Ministers’ meetings held every two years, the national expert committee meeting, briefs, workshops, the media etc. In 2009, the average annual contribution by member States increased by 30 times compared with the period 2001-2006., which is a clear indicator of the effectiveness of AfricaRice policy communication.

With the support of many donors, AfricaRice has assisted its member countries boost seed production significantly. For example, USAID has funded a major seed project in West Africa that facilitated access to certified seed to 40,000 smallholder farmers through a voucher system designed and implemented with the Catholic Relief Services, IFDC, and NARS, private seed companies and seed producers’ associations. Also, the Japanese Government has supported a project to provide access to quality seed to more than 58,000 vulnerable farmers in 20 countries across the continent.

AfricaRice is reinforcing collaboration with regional institutions like ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), ROPPA (Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organizations of West Africa), and others for further opportunities for policy communication and outreach.

What the countries are doing. The policy landscape is changing. In addition to growing more rice, most countries are aware of the need to improve its quality. “Subsidy” used to be a taboo word. Now policy makers are starting to say that governments need to subsidize fertilizer, and seed production. And farmer groups are more vocal in expressing their needs.

During the 2008-09 cropping season in Mali, for instance, the government subsidized fertilizer, seed and helped finance farm machinery such as mini rice mills, rice threshers, and other equipment to improve rice processing. Greater support to local rice production paid dividends.

The Sahel harvested a bumper crop of rice in 2008-09: a 44% increase in one year. The increase was over 200% in Burkina Faso, although from a relatively low base. Many countries recorded double digit growth. The weather also helped, with good rainfall.

Many are now talking about irrigation, while before irrigation was regarded as a failure in Africa. But If you control for ecology (e.g. rainfall), rice yields are as high in Africa as they are anywhere in the world.

It is too soon to call victory, as of 2007 only eight countries had complied with the 2003 Africa Union Maputo decision to allocate at least 10% of their budget for agriculture. But national governments are now certainly more interested in investing in agriculture.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

In view of the growing importance of rice for Africa’s food security and the
strategic role played by the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in advising
policymakers on this critical issue, national experts from 24 AfricaRice member
countries urged the Center to continue its strong advocacy efforts for
increased investments in the domestic rice sector to help achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This was one of the key recommendations made at the National Experts Committee
(NEC), held in Cotonou, Benin, 13-15 September 2010. AfricaRice is a
pan-African intergovernmental research association of African member countries.
It is also a member of the Consortium of Centers supported by the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The NEC felicitated the AfricaRice Director General Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck and
the staff for their “Outstanding” rating from the World Bank based on
scientific, administrative and financial indicators.

Underlining the scarcity of national rice scientists, technicians and extension
workers in sub-Saharan Africa, the NEC endorsed several measures taken by
AfricaRice and its partners to strengthen national rice R&D capacity:

Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP): The NEC reiterated its support
to the new GRiSP initiative of the CGIAR-supported Centers and other key
partners working on rice. GRiSP is expected to bring the best of international
rice science to Africa in a coordinated manner.

Revival of the task force mechanism: The NEC approved the revival of
AfricaRice’s successful task force mode of research partnership. In line with
sub-regional and regional organizations, the new Africawide task force
mechanism – with strong ownership by national systems – will help build
critical mass around major thematic areas of the rice sector. As part of this,
an African Rice Breeding Task Force has just been launched with support from
the Government of Japan.

Harnessing Egypt’s rice expertise: The NEC encouraged AfricaRice to
pursue its strategy of harnessing the expertise of Egypt – which became a member
of AfricaRice in 2009 – in irrigated rice systems and hybrid rice technology
for the benefit of other member countries.

Priority to post-harvest technologies: The NEC stressed the importance
of looking beyond increasing rice production in Africa and addressing marketing
issues of locally produced rice through a value chain approach – special
emphasis will need to be paid to the introduction of suitable harvest and
post-harvest technologies.

A major concern was raised by the NEC regarding possible risks to rice
germplasm exchange for research purposes if the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) would be expanded to include material currently under the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(ITPGRFA). The current arrangement as regulated by the ITPGRFA allows easy
access of African countries to rice germplasm from each other or from other
regions.

AfricaRice member countries were recommended to initiate an advocacy addressed
to their Ministries of Agriculture and Environment to make sure that the
African representatives present during the CBD negotiations are well informed
of the current benefits for African agriculture from ITPGRFA.

AfricaRice headquarters is based in Côte d’Ivoire. Staff are located in Côte d’Ivoire and also in AfricaRice Research Stations in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org